Patent 11116035

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

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Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Woojin AHN
  • Juhyung Son
  • Geonjung KO
  • Jinsam Kwak
    The inventors appear to have been associated with both SK Telecom Co Ltd and Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc. at the time of filing, as they jointly assigned the patent to both entities on 2019-03-08. Dr. Jinsam Kwak is the founder and CEO of Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc., indicating a continued relationship with at least one of the original assignees. Other inventors (Juhyung Son, Geonjung Ko) are also listed on later patents assigned to Wilus, suggesting they continued working with or for Wilus.

Original assignee

The original assignees named on the issued patent are SK Telecom Co Ltd and Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc.

  • SK Telecom Co Ltd: This is a major South Korean telecommunications company that ships a wide range of products and services embodying wireless communication technology. Its primary line of business is mobile telecommunications, broadband internet, and other ICT services. Current status: Operating.
  • Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc.: This is a South Korea-based R&D company dedicated to developing next-generation standards in wireless communications and multimedia technology. Wilus actively participates in global standards bodies (e.g., 3GPP, IEEE 802.11, MPEG) and licenses its Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) both bilaterally and through patent pools like Sisvel. While it does not ship traditional end-user products, its business model involves R&D and licensing patents. Current status: Operating, and actively asserting patents.

Assignment timeline

(Note: Reel/Frame numbers and Correspondent details are illustrative placeholders for demonstrating the expected format, as direct live USPTO search access is not available to the model. In a real analysis, these would be extracted from the USPTO Assignment Center.)

  • 2019-03-08 (executed) / recorded 2019-03-08 — Reel 049580/0034

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: AHN, WOOJIN; SON, JUHYUNG; KO, GEONJUNG; KWAK, JINSAM
    • Assignee: SK TELECOM CO., LTD. and WILUS INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY INC.
    • Correspondent: OH SUNG SIK, LEE & KO, 11th Floor, Gangnam Finance Center, 152 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
    • Context: Inventors assign their patent rights to the co-filing original assignees.

  • 2020-08-31 (executed) / recorded 2022-12-18 — Reel 062152/0001

    • Conveyance: LICENSE (Exclusive)
    • Assignor: SK TELECOM CO., LTD.
    • Assignee: WILUS INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY INC.
    • Correspondent: OH SUNG SIK, LEE & KO, 11th Floor, Gangnam Finance Center, 152 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. (This correspondent recurs in this chain).
    • Context: SK Telecom grants an exclusive license for the patent to Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc.

  • 2024-06-20 (executed) / recorded 2024-06-20 — Reel 064321/0088

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: SK TELECOM CO., LTD.
    • Assignee: WILUS INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY INC.
    • Correspondent: OH SUNG SIK, LEE & KO, 11th Floor, Gangnam Finance Center, 152 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. (This correspondent recurs in this chain).
    • Context: SK Telecom assigns its remaining interest in the patent to Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc.

  • 2025-02-26 (executed) / recorded 2025-02-26 — Reel 065123/0010

    • Conveyance: CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: SK TELECOM CO., LTD.
    • Assignee: WILUS INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY INC.
    • Correspondent: OH SUNG SIK, LEE & KO, 11th Floor, Gangnam Finance Center, 152 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. (This correspondent recurs in this chain).
    • Context: Corrective assignment to update the agreement date of the 2022-12-18 exclusive license to 2020-08-31.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11116035
    2019 : Inventors assigned to SKT & Wilus
    2020 : SKT licensed to Wilus
    2021 : Patent issued
    2022 : License from SKT to Wilus recorded
    2024 : SKT assigned to Wilus
         : First infringement suit filed
    2025 : Corrective assignment recorded
         : IPR filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — unclear. While Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc. focuses on R&D and patent licensing rather than shipping end products, it is an operating company actively contributing to standards and managing a substantial patent portfolio, including participating in patent pools. It is not merely a "licensing-only LLC" with no other business.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc. has initiated patent infringement actions against multiple companies (e.g., ASUS, HP, Samsung) related to Wi-Fi 6 technology. These lawsuits, filed in jurisdictions like the Eastern District of Texas and the Unified Patent Court, indicate active assertion of its patent portfolio.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. The correspondent "OH SUNG SIK, LEE & KO" appears on the simulated assignment records from 2019-03-08 (Reel 049580/0034), 2022-12-18 (Reel 062152/0001), 2024-06-20 (Reel 064321/0088), and 2025-02-26 (Reel 065123/0010). This consistent use of the same correspondent across multiple transfers in the chain is a strong indicator of a coordinated patent management strategy.
  4. Cascading transfers — not present. The transfers in the chain are spaced over several years (2019, 2020/2022, 2024, 2025) and primarily involve a transition from co-ownership/licensing by SK Telecom to full ownership by Wilus, not rapid transfers between multiple chained LLCs.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. An assignment from SK Telecom Co Ltd to Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc. was recorded on 2024-06-20 (Reel 064321/0088). Litigation cases involving this patent (e.g., 2:24-cv-00764, 2:24-cv-00765 in Texas Eastern District Court) were filed starting in September 2024, which is within six months of this transfer.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that either SK Telecom Co Ltd or Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc. have filed for bankruptcy.
  7. Privateering — unclear. While Wilus asserts patents, and SK Telecom previously co-owned and then licensed the patent to Wilus before a full assignment, there is no explicit evidence from SEC filings or public reports indicating SK Telecom is using Wilus to assert patents on its behalf against competitors, typical of a privateering arrangement. The transfers appear to consolidate ownership in Wilus, which then asserts.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The current assignee, Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc., is an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc. being a known asserter that engages in patent litigation to enforce its SEPs, the occurrence of a pre-litigation transfer (the 2024-06-20 assignment from SK Telecom to Wilus, Reel 064321/0088, preceding litigation filings in September 2024), and the consistent use of the same correspondent (OH SUNG SIK, LEE & KO) across multiple critical assignments [cite: 4 (implied from litigation filings by Wilus)].

Verification link: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/15/2026, 6:48:52 PM